Predictions Anyone?

Happy Thanksgiving folks. I know many of you may be distracted this morning, having just come in from hunting down turkeys and all, so I’ll be brief and cut to the chase: The Rebels break the Egg Bowl skid Saturday night in a close one, the most closely contested Egg Bowl since Ed Orgeron’s failed fourth-and-1 in Starkville in 2007.

Brad Locke and I did a “Who has the edge” element for the Game Day section. That will appear on the blog, appropriately enough, on Game Day.

In that endeavor State had an “edge” at most positions with both of us. One of those is at quarterback, where Tyler Russell has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 21-4 while Bo Wallace’s is 14-13.

That being said, Wallace is a fighter, and I like his chances for one game. He needs to be turnover-free. That doesn’t happen often, but it has happened twice.

Brad referenced the Rebels’ depth problems and how they seemed to tucker out at the end against LSU. That is a concern, but I think adrenaline at home against the rival can get them over the hump in this game.

I like the Rebels’ chances to slow down the MSU run game, even though LaDarius Perkins has had big games in the series.

If it is truly going to be a close game as even the boys in Vegas think — That’s Las Vegas if not Stark-vegas — I have a lot of confidence in Ole Miss kicker Bryson Rose, provided his offense gets him within reasonable range and doesn’t make him attempt from 50 plus.